Silly Chimney

Back in the old days, before rap stations festooned the edge of the cliff, you hiked back down after finishing a climb. If you were over by High Exposure or Bonnie's Roof, the "walk" down was Silly Chimney.Many years ago as I was just starting to climb in the Gunks, my partner (a seasoned local) and I had just climbed Airy Aria. After we had coiled up the ropes, he said "follow me" and we were soon at an apparently vertical part of the cliff, right next to the Yellow Wall. Undaunted, he found the top of a chimney and promptly disappeared. This looked crazy - exposed and scary. Not wanting to look like a wuss, I jumped in after him and started slithering down the chimney. Amazingly, holds appeared as needed and there was always something solid to grab at the exposed part. Much faster than fooling around with a rap.Since then, I've used this climb to scare visiting climbers and amaze locals with the possibility of a quick descent when all the rap stations are crowded.

Obvious corner between Bonnie's Roof and The Yellow Wall. The lower part is a gully - the chimney section starts about 50' up.

Standard gunks rack, I suppose ...